Can Law Enforcement Be Required to Transport a Mentally Ill Person to a Hospital?
Full Question:
Answer:
It is possible. Please see the followiong CO statutes to determine applicability:
27-10-105. Emergency procedure.
(1) Emergency procedure may be invoked under either one of the following
two conditions:
(a) (I) When any person appears to have a mental illness and, as a result
of such mental illness, appears to be an imminent danger to others or to
himself or herself or appears to be gravely disabled, then a person
specified in subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (a), each of whom is
referred to in this section as the "intervening professional", upon
probable cause and with such assistance as may be required, may take the
person into custody, or cause the person to be taken into custody, and
placed in a facility designated or approved by the executive director for a
seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation.
(II) The following persons may effect a seventy-two-hour hold as provided
in subparagraph (I) of this paragraph (a):
(A) A certified peace officer;
(B) A professional person;
(C) A registered professional nurse as defined in section 12-38-103(11),
C.R.S., who by reason of postgraduate education and additional nursing
preparation has gained knowledge, judgment, and skill in psychiatric or
mental health nursing;
(D) A licensed marriage and family therapist or licensed professional
counselor, licensed under the provisions of part 5 or 6 of article 43 of
title 12, C.R.S., or an addiction counselor licensed pursuant to
section 12-43-804(3), C.R.S., who by reason of postgraduate education and
additional preparation has gained knowledge, judgment, and skill in
psychiatric or clinical mental health therapy, forensic psychotherapy, or
the evaluation of mental disorders; or
(E) A licensed clinical social worker licensed under the provisions of
part 4 of article 43 of title 12, C.R.S.
(b) Upon an affidavit sworn to or affirmed before a judge that relates
sufficient facts to establish that a person appears to have a mental
illness and, as a result of the mental illness, appears to be an imminent
danger to others or to himself or herself or appears to be gravely
disabled, the court may order the person described in the affidavit to be
taken into custody and placed in a facility designated or approved by the
executive director for a seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation.
Whenever in this article a facility is to be designated or approved by the
executive director, hospitals, if available, shall be approved or
designated in each county before other facilities are approved or
designated. Whenever in this article a facility is to be designated or
approved by the executive director as a facility for a stated purpose and
the facility to be designated or approved is a private facility, the
consent of the private facility to the enforcement of standards set by the
executive director shall be a prerequisite to the designation or approval.
(1.1) (a) When a person is taken into custody pursuant to subsection (1)
of this section, such person shall not be detained in a jail, lockup, or
other place used for the confinement of persons charged with or convicted
of penal offenses; except that such place may be used if no other suitable
place of confinement for treatment and evaluation is readily available. In
such situation the person shall be detained separately from those persons
charged with or convicted of penal offenses and shall be held for a period
not to exceed twenty-four hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and
holidays, after which time he or she shall be transferred to a facility
designated or approved by the executive director for a seventy-two-hour
treatment and evaluation. If the person being detained is a juvenile, as
defined in section 19-1-103(68), C.R.S., the juvenile shall be placed in a
setting that is nonsecure and physically segregated by sight and sound from
the adult offenders. When a person is taken into custody and confined
pursuant to this subsection (1.1), such person shall be examined at least
every twelve hours by a certified peace officer, nurse, or physician or by
an appropriate staff professional of the nearest designated or approved
mental health treatment facility to determine if the person is receiving
appropriate care consistent with his or her mental condition.
(b) A sheriff or police chief who violates the provisions of paragraph
(a) of this subsection (1.1) related to detaining juveniles may be
subject to a civil fine of no more than one thousand dollars. The
decision to fine shall be based on prior violations of the provisions of
paragraph (a) of this subsection (1.1) by the sheriff or police chief and
the willingness of the sheriff or police chief to address the violations
in order to comply with paragraph (a) of this subsection (1.1).
(2) Such facility shall require an application in writing, stating the
circumstances under which the person's condition was called to the
attention of the intervening professional and further stating sufficient
facts, obtained from the personal observations of the intervening
professional or obtained from others whom he or she reasonably believes to
be reliable, to establish that the person has a mental illness and, as a
result of the mental illness, is an imminent danger to others or to himself
or herself or is gravely disabled. The application shall indicate when the
person was taken into custody and who brought the person's condition to the
attention of the intervening professional. A copy of the application shall
be furnished to the person being evaluated, and the application shall be
retained in accordance with the provisions of section 27-10-120(3).
(3) If the seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation facility admits the
person, it may detain him or her for evaluation and treatment for a period
not to exceed seventy-two hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays
if evaluation and treatment services are not available on those days. For
the purposes of this subsection (3), evaluation and treatment services are
not deemed to be available merely because a professional person is on call
during weekends or holidays. If, in the opinion of the professional person
in charge of the evaluation, the person can be properly cared for without
being detained, he or she shall be provided services on a voluntary basis.
(4) Each person admitted to a seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation
facility under the provisions of this article shall receive an evaluation
as soon as possible after he or she is admitted and shall receive such
treatment and care as his or her condition requires for the full period
that he or she is held. The person shall be released before seventy-two
hours have elapsed if, in the opinion of the professional person in charge
of the evaluation, the person no longer requires evaluation or treatment.
Persons who have been detained for seventy-two-hour evaluation and
treatment shall be released, referred for further care and treatment on a
voluntary basis, or certified for treatment pursuant to section 27-10-107.
27-10-107. Certification for short-term treatment.
(1) If a person detained for seventy-two hours under the provisions of
section 27-10-105 or a respondent under court order for evaluation pursuant
to section 27-10-106 has received an evaluation, he or she may be certified
for not more than three months of short-term treatment under the following
conditions:
(a) The professional staff of the agency or facility providing
seventy-two-hour treatment and evaluation has analyzed the person's
condition and has found the person has a mental illness and, as a result of
the mental illness, is a danger to others or to himself or herself or is
gravely disabled.
(b) The person has been advised of the availability of, but has not
accepted, voluntary treatment; but, if reasonable grounds exist to believe
that the person will not remain in a voluntary treatment program, his or
her acceptance of voluntary treatment shall not preclude certification.
(c) The facility which will provide short-term treatment has been
designated or approved by the executive director to provide such treatment.
(2) The notice of certification must be signed by a professional person
on the staff of the evaluation facility who participated in the
evaluation and shall state facts sufficient to establish reasonable
grounds to believe that the person has a mental illness and, as a result
of the mental illness, is a danger to others or to himself or herself or
is gravely disabled. The certification shall be filed with the court
within forty-eight hours, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and court
holidays, of the date of certification. The certification shall be filed
with the court in the county in which the respondent resided or was
physically present immediately prior to his or her being taken into
custody.
(3) Within twenty-four hours of certification, copies of the
certification shall be personally delivered to the respondent, and a copy
shall be kept by the evaluation facility as part of the person's record.
The respondent shall also be asked to designate one other person whom he
or she wishes informed regarding certification. If he or she is incapable
of making such a designation at the time the certification is delivered,
he or she shall be asked to designate such person as soon as he or she is
capable. In addition to the copy of the certification, the respondent
shall be given a written notice that a hearing upon his or her
certification for short-term treatment may be had before the court or a
jury upon written request directed to the court pursuant to subsection
(6) of this section.
(4) Upon certification of the respondent, the facility designated for
short-term treatment shall have custody of the respondent.
(5) Whenever a certification is filed with the court, the court, if it
has not already done so under section 27-10-106(10), shall forthwith
appoint an attorney to represent the respondent. The court shall determine
whether the respondent is able to afford an attorney. If the respondent
cannot afford counsel, the court shall appoint either counsel from the
legal services program operating in that jurisdiction or private counsel
to represent the respondent. The attorney representing the respondent
shall be provided with a copy of the certification immediately upon his
or her appointment. Waiver of counsel must be knowingly and intelligently
made in writing and filed with the court by the respondent. In the event
that a respondent who is able to afford an attorney fails to pay the
appointed counsel, such counsel, upon application to the court and after
appropriate notice and hearing, may obtain a judgment for reasonable
attorney fees against the respondent or person making request for such
counsel or both the respondent and such person.
(6) The respondent for short-term treatment or his or her attorney may at
any time file a written request that the certification for short-term
treatment or the treatment be reviewed by the court or that the treatment
be on an outpatient basis. If review is requested, the court shall hear the
matter within ten days after the request, and the court shall give notice
to the respondent and his or her attorney and the certifying and treating
professional person of the time and place thereof. The hearing shall be
held in accordance with section 27-10-111. At the conclusion of the
hearing, the court may enter or confirm the certification for short-term
treatment, discharge the respondent, or enter any other appropriate order,
subject to available appropriations.
(7) Records and papers in proceedings under this section and section
27-10-108 shall be maintained separately by the clerks of the several
courts. Upon the release of any respondent in accordance with the
provisions of section 27-10-110, the facility shall notify the clerk of
the court within five days of the release, and the clerk shall forthwith
seal the record in the case and omit the name of the respondent from the
index of cases in such court until and unless the respondent becomes
subject to an order of long-term care and treatment pursuant to section
27-10-109 or until and unless the court orders them opened for good cause
shown. In the event a petition is filed pursuant to section 27-10-109,
such certification record may be opened and become a part of the record
in the long-term care and treatment case and the name of the respondent
indexed.
(8) Whenever it appears to the court, by reason of a report by the
treating professional person or any other report satisfactory to the court,
that a respondent detained for evaluation and treatment or certified for
treatment should be transferred to another facility for treatment and the
safety of the respondent or the public requires that the respondent be
transported by a sheriff, the court may issue an order directing the
sheriff or his or her designee to deliver the respondent to the designated
facility.